The Los Angeles Lakers are still tirelessly pursuing a Dwight Howard trade, apparently.

Over the past two months, Mitch Kupchak has offered numerous proposals and a variety of assets to the Orlando Magic for their disgruntled center.

Each time, he was met with very little enthusiasm.

Kupchak presented a straight up, Andrew Bynum-for-Howard swap. Orlando brass wasn’t interested. He involved the Houston Rockets in discussions and tried to work out a deal that would send draft picks plus cap space to the Magic, and Bynum to the Rockets, but that got shot down as well. He somehow, amazingly, piqued Dan Gilbert’s interest and got the Cleveland Cavaliers to help out, but Orlando wasn’t having that either.

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A normal, regular NBA executive would have given up by now; Kupchak -- one of the most underrated front office guys in the business -- is not your average front office exec, though.

According to a new report from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, L.A. is in talks with the Denver Nuggets, Philadelphia 76ers and Magic regarding a four-team deal that would net them Howard.

It would come at a pretty hefty cost, though – Bynum and Pau Gasol.

Per the report:

There are other players involved in these fluid talks, but a framework of the possible deal includes Howard and Denver forward Al Harrington going to the Lakers, Philadelphia guard Andre Iguodala going to the Nuggets, Los Angeles center Andrew Bynum moving to the 76ers, and Los Angeles forward Pau Gasol and Denver guard Arron Afflalo going to the Magic, sources told Yahoo! Sports.

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Wojnarowski notes that Orlando would get a sufficient amount of cap relief and draft picks in the deal, too. There was also this:

Orlando's Jason Richardson has been significant name in 4-way talks too, sources tell Y! There's a scenario where he goes with Howard to LA.

Essentially, for the Lakers, this deal is all about two things: 1.) getting Howard, and 2.) shedding salaries.

L.A. will not get Orlando to bite on a deal for just Bynum. That’s just the way it is. If they want Howard as badly as they’re indicating they do, they’ll have to part ways with more. As far as the second thing – Jim Buss has made it no secret that saving money is a priority. Getting rid of Gasol would save a lot of money over the next two years.

How Bynum would fit with Philadelphia and what exactly Iguodala would do for Denver are two very debatable questions. But we should probably wait and see how serious this latest proposal is before breaking it down in a lot of detail.

Here is the bottom line thing to take away from all this: L.A. hasn’t given up on getting Howard.

Update: According to multiple reports, Gasol will not be involved.

Update 2:

Sources tell ESPN trade also calls for Sixers to get Jason Richardson with Bynum, with Iguodala to Denver & Dwight, obviously, to Lakerland